ED C. LASATER, Page #0887

afforded him time to think, so he decided to become a
lawyer. A suggestion of future ill-health caused him to abandon his studies and
he engaged in the sheep business with his father. A little later, he was called
to assume charge of his father's herd ; and with Mexican sheep-herders for his
assistants and companions he began his career as a sheep raiser which continued
up until the passage of the Wilson bill and wool was put on the free list,
killing the industry for many years.

We next find Ed Lasater operating on a large scale as a cattle buyer, though
still a very young man but with fine personal credit. He would buy cattle from
the Texas ranchmen and ship to Chicago markets, but all the time he was making a
close study of grazing lands which had, at one time, been so valuable for sheep
raising. During the panic of 1893, Mr. Lasater had bought heavily of Texas
cattle ; in fact he had nearly 30,000 head on hand. A drouth hit Texas and the
cattle could not winter on the range. It was necessary to feed them through the
winter; then the bottom dropped out of the cattle business and fat steers sold
for $2.70 a hundred on the Chicago market, and Ed Lasater was
$130,000 loser on his cattle he lost everything he had except his
credit, and says himself that all he has accumulated since his failure has been
done as a result of his financial disaster. He kept his contracts, paid for all
the cattle that he bought, and accepted his loss. About this time, something
happened in Lasater's favor. Practically all the land was owned by Mexicans
through grants from the Spanish and Mexican governments. In 1893, the great
drouth year, the ranchmen lost all their cattle, and the cry for water went up
everywhere. The Mexicans depended upon shallow wells which were no more than
trenches ; and while they were no worse off than Lasater who had lost all his
cattle, he had one thing they did not have credit, and confidence in his ability
to provide an adequate water supply. He investigated the situation, and found